Battery Plant

Randomly meeting a new explorer that you networked off of the internet doesn’t usually work out for the best. This time, however, it was a pleasure. We had a few extra hours to kill and were tired of being in the car; our minds were now more focused on rust and hazardous chemicals.

Our new exploring friend met us for lunch at Wendy’s sporting a great pair of “Gorilla Shoes:”

Today’s location was the abandoned super-fund site of a former acid battery plant. Before we entered our knowledgeable new exploring friend (Who was also a structural/industrial engineer) warned us not to mess in any of the puddles, or pull any pipe releases, because, “They still contain acidic or other toxic chemicals that can really mess us up.”

We quickly made our way through the cracked parking lot and over the fence; a short dash later we were in. In an effort to try to save my hands I immediately gloved up and set up. You could instantly tell that this was a dangerous place even when it was open; arm-length rubber gloves, full face respirators, and splash shields littered the ground… Oh, I was excited!

Further confirming our suspicions, after 25 minutes inside the main building “RenegadeofFunk” broke out in a mysterious case of hives. He blamed it on invisible mosquitoes… The main building had a scattered selection of old equipment and interesting electronics. I wished there was still power so as I could see the result of my random button pushing.

The outside temperature was around 90 without a cloud in the sky, but there was a constant mist that flowed through a hole in the ceiling. For the life of me I couldn’t find out where it was coming from.

With the toxic mist gently falling, it gave life to the plants growing below. It gave an almost jungle like appearance, though only reaching inches off the ground.

How could such a hazardous place be left to rot? Anyone could walk in and take a bottle of mercury, or slip into a puddle of sludge. The more deeply we probed, the more dangerous our environment became. Lead cauldrons, open pits, oh my!

Shortly after leaving the main building, we waltzed through the open door of a smaller storage structure in the back. Just as soon as we entered, the alarm sounded. The motion sensor had been tripped. Like this article, our trip came to an abrupt end.